One ESPN source put it this way: ESPN "hacked" hundreds of jobs and will replace those laid off "with younger, cheaper, less experienced people."

As another source put it in an email: "Most people let go were older, have been with the company a long time and collecting a decent salary for what they do. They will be replaced by younger, less experienced and most importantly a much less compensated employee."

That's 66 jobs in all, all open as of May 22 [UPDATED, see below]. There will be more in the coming weeks, especially as ESPN gets around to layoffs in other departments. ESPN is also getting the word out on its website.

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As the Hartford Courant notes, ESPN is a Connecticut "First Five" employer. In return for being an active job creator in Connecticut, the network receives grants, low-interest loans, and all sorts of tax benefits from the state. Per the Courant, this massive round of layoffs won't bump ESPN out of the program.

UPDATE, 5:02 p.m.: We've been told that the dates on ESPN's job listings site refreshes automatically every day, which means the dates listed on the site do not reflect when the job was actually posted. So, there weren't suddenly 66 job listings posted yesterday. A quick check of Disney's site—which actually does post dates—indicates that only six jobs have opened up since May 21, the day we first heard about the job cuts. Our sources continue to insist that many laid off jobs will be replaced by younger/cheaper talent, so we'll keep our eyes open. We regret the error.